"I feel so out of place," Winter muttered restlessly.
I glanced at her sideways. Reassuring words wanted to escape my lips, but my throat didn't allow it. I choked slightly and gave up trying to speak. It felt like I was suffocating, like someone had taken a firm grasp around my throat and wasn't thinking about letting go anytime soon. My heart was thumping out an erratic rhythm in my chest, and there was an odd, faraway ringing in my ears.
Yet somehow, through all this, my senses seemed sharper than usual. My ears caught on to strands of conversation even through the ringing, and they were still conveying detailed messages to my brain - I knew the college student, standing next to Winter and chatting away on her cell phone, was waiting for her boyfriend who was at some Italian art schoo
